Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Back in the middle of May, we posited that maybe J.D. Salinger himself had a hand in creating the ridiculous-sounding Catcher in the Rye sequel due out next month from an obscure European publisher. Turns out, we were wrong. Not only did the reclusive 90-year-old writer have nothing to do with Sixty Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, according to AP, on Monday he filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan.

While Salinger says he owns the rights to the Holden Caulfield character, full stop, J.D. California, author of the new book in question, maintains his book has nothing to do with Salinger’s original work, despite the derivative title:

Despite the clear parallels, Mr California and his publishers said they were confident that the new book would not encounter legal problems.

“The stories are so different that I don’t think you can argue this is a sequel,” Mr California said. “This is such an American response. It’s just words. I have written about Mr C, a 76-year-old man. Salinger wrote a book about a a 16-year-boy named Holden Caulfield. It’s a story about growing old and old age and finding yourself in the world.”